Your life is a puzzle, and the pieces may be scattered around. The good news is that now you have 13 new books to help you put them back together!
1. The Positivity Project by Robert Emmons, PhD
The Positivity Project by Robert Emmons, PhD is the first book on gratitude to be published in more than a decade. In it, he explains how to cultivate an attitude of gratitude and use it to improve your health and happiness.
Emmons is not only one of the nation’s leading researchers on gratitude but also its most prolific writer about it. His other books include Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity and The Chemistry of Joy: How Our Brains Make Us Happy—and What We Can Do To Feel That Way More Often (both published by Hudson Street Press).
2. Living Well with Pain and Illness by Vidyamala Burch
The book is designed to help you live well with pain and illness. This is not a book about curing the ailments that may have led to your chronic pain or illness, but about how to live with them instead. It’s an approach that can be applied to any experience of disability, whether it’s physical or mental—and this includes chronic conditions as well as acute ones.
The first half of Living Well With Pain And Illness explores ways in which you can manage your own mental state and find new ways of coping: from meditation techniques to pre-empting triggers; learning how not just what but why certain things affect us emotionally; changing habits such as smoking; and using mindfulness practices like yoga or walking meditation (there are plenty more). The second half deals with practicalities like working out what’s causing pain in the first place through identifying different types of pain—does it come from my muscles? My joints? Or something else entirely?
3. Unhinged by Joseph Shrand
Unhinged by Joseph Shrand is a self-help book that aims to help you deal with anxiety and stress. The book is written by a psychologist and focuses on practical tips, such as how to manage your inner critic or how to reframe negative thoughts.
4. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
In Being Mortal, surgeon and writer Atul Gawande addresses the fact that most people are living longer lives, but not necessarily healthier ones. His book offers a window into the future of medicine and how we might prepare for its changes.
5. The Mindful Way through Depression by Zindel Segal, John Teasdale, Mark Williams, and Jon Kabat-Zinn
This book is the perfect guide for anyone who is struggling with depression. It includes mindfulness-based cognitive therapy approach, which helps people to understand and work with their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This book will help you understand your emotions and how they affect you. It also helps you develop a more positive outlook on life by learning how to handle difficult situations in a healthy way.
6. Rising Strong by Brené Brown
In this book, Brené Brown explains how to get through a life crisis and restore trust in yourself. She teaches you how to be kinder to yourself, find your voice, and how to live a more courageous life. She says that vulnerability is the key to better relationships with others but also ourselves. If you want more happiness in all areas of your life—especially those close relationships—this book will show you how by giving examples from her own personal experiences as well as those of others who have been there before.”
7. The Complete Guide to Fibromyalgia Relief by Vinod Pallakattu, MD and Ted Epperly, MD
When you have fibromyalgia, it’s hard to sleep at night. Your muscles ache and burn; your mind races with thoughts of pain and exhaustion. The Complete Guide to Fibromyalgia Relief offers a step-by-step plan for managing this condition, starting with a proper diagnosis by a medical professional (and not just some online quiz). If you do have fibromyalgia, there are several ways you can manage it:
- Learn the best techniques for managing pain
- Get help from others in your life—your loved ones may be able to help with chores around the house or other activities that are too difficult for you due to fatigue or lack of energy
8. The Girlfriend’s Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood by Vicki Iovine
In The Girlfriend’s Guide to Surviving the First Year of Motherhood, you’ll learn how to deal with the new realities of your life as a mother. You’ll learn about everything from breastfeeding and sleep deprivation to dealing with postpartum depression. You’ll also learn how to find time for yourself in between caring for your newborn and your other children, so that you don’t lose yourself in this new role.
In addition to being written by Vicki Iovine, who is both an experienced mom and a writer, this book has been endorsed by countless other mothers who have found it helpful. This means that you can trust that these tips are based on real-life experience instead of just theory or trial-and-error methods. It also means that these tips have been vetted by many mothers before they were included in the book!
9. When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress by Gabor Maté
Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician who specializes in addictions and trauma. In this book, he discusses how stress can lead to a wide range of health problems—physical and mental alike.
Maté argues that stress is a normal part of life but when it becomes chronic, it can cause physical and mental health issues. He believes that stressors are everywhere: work, family life, relationships—the list goes on. However, these stressors affect different people differently. For example, some people may be more sensitive to certain types of stress than others (e.g., those with anxiety disorders).
10. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
Louise Hay is the founder of Hay House, which publishes books on spirituality, self-help and personal growth. She’s also a self-proclaimed “healer” who has helped many people overcome their health problems through positive thinking. Her book, You Can Heal Your Life, was published in 1984 and has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide since then.
It’s not an easy read—you’ll need to set aside some time and focus on the messages within if you want to truly get something out of it—but her message is powerful: negativity will cause disease; positivity will heal it. To start turning your life around for the better, Hay recommends forgiving other people for any wrongs they may have done against you (or even better yet, asking them for forgiveness), being grateful for what you have now rather than longing for what isn’t yours yet (and maybe never will be), loving yourself as much as others love themselves (which should mean loving yourself unconditionally), letting go of anger towards others so that it doesn’t consume your mind and body in negative ways…
The list goes on! But if these ideas resonate with you at all then there’s no reason not to check out this classic self-help book from one of today’s most well-known spiritual leaders.*
11. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
This book is about the relationship between addiction, trauma and the brain. Gabor Maté, a physician from Vancouver, takes us on a journey through his work with patients struggling to live a healthy life in spite of their pasts. His perspective is one of a medical doctor but also one who understands the complex historical forces that have shaped our current world.
In an era where addiction has become normalized and medication for mental health disorders is being prescribed more than ever before, this book reminds us why it’s important to take time to understand what we are doing when we treat people with chemical dependency or psychiatric issues.
12. The Great Pain Deception: Faulty Medical Advice Is Making Us Worse by Steven Ray Ozanich
The Great Pain Deception: Faulty Medical Advice Is Making Us Worse by Steven Ray Ozanich, MD.
So you hurt? Maybe you think it’s because of the way you sit, or because your hip bone is a bit out of whack. Or maybe it’s something else entirely—maybe you have cancer, or an autoimmune disease that causes joint pain and inflammation. Either way, this book by Dr. Steven Ozanich will help a lot! It’ll explain how pain can be good for you in some cases (like when it tells us to get an X-ray) and how we shouldn’t try to ignore our body’s signals just because they’re inconvenient or uncomfortable (like when the person in front of us at the grocery store has dropped their wallet).
13. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel RuizTakeaway: These books may help you with your life.
The Four Agreements is a book that focuses on the power of your words. The author, Don Miguel Ruiz, says that if you can apply these four concepts to your life, you will be able to live a happier and more fulfilling life.
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
Conclusion
I hope that this list of books has been helpful for you. They can all be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below!
